Due to the increasing performance of electronic components, there is a need for higher rates of heat removal. These components have increased heat generation and smaller package sizes. For example, there is a need to dissipate heat from personal computer Central Processing Units (CPUs) in the range of 50 to 200 W.
Forced and natural convection air cooling methods in conjunction with heat sinks currently serve as the predominant method of cooling electronics. The current conventional air cooling systems that use aluminum extruded or die-casting fin heat sinks are not sufficient for cooling the high heat flux of chip surfaces or for large heat dissipation with low thermal resistance and compact size. However, these air-cooled heat sinks require more surface area to effectively function. To be able to transfer the increased heat load, the heat sinks have become larger. To accommodate larger heat sinks, processors use a thermally conductive heat spreader. Unfortunately, the heat spreader increases the overall size of surface area on a printed circuit board required by such an electronic component. This has required the use of larger fans to overcome increased pressure drops. Thus, current cooling methods require substantial space on the one hand, while blocking airflow entry and escape paths on the other.
Furthermore, high aspect ratio fins are used to dissipate heat to the ambient with low thermal resistance. But, there is a need to maintain temperature uniformity in the X-Y direction—a shortcoming of current traditional heat dissipation methods which only transfer heat in one direction.
Therefore, there is a need for a more efficient and effective cooling system. This goal can be reached by the use of liquid cooling methods and devices. A liquid pumped cooling system can remove more heat with considerably less flow volume and maintain better temperature uniformity. These results are reached with significantly less acoustic noise.